Extreme Evil - Taking Crime to the Next Level (True Crime)

by Ray Black

  IN THE BEGINNINING

  Little is known about Attila’s early years, although it was said that he was taught to ride a horse before he could walk, fire a bow and arrow by the time he was three and wield a sabre at five. At around the age of twelve, he was sent as an exchanged hostage to secure peace terms with the Romans. This occurred after the prominent Roman Flavius Aëtius had spent time with the Huns for the same reason, befriending Attila in the process; years later, the two would meet again, although this time as foes. Attila learned much about his future enemies during his time as a hostage; not only did he acquire their language and military secrets, but he was also witness to their extravagant wealth and culture. He was disgusted by the self-indulgent lifestyle of the Romans and although he remained friends with Aëtius – who, as a result of his time with the Huns, believed that they would be better as allies than enemies – he vowed to return to Rome one day only not as a hostage, but as its conqueror.

  Along with his older brother, Bleda, Attila succeeded his uncle, Rua, who died in 433 ad. The two brothers shared power for a few years until Attila had Bleda murdered so that he could unite and rule the Huns – who were made up of several different ethnic backgrounds, possibly even including dissatisfied Romans – on his own. As soon as Attila assumed power, he began attacking territories belonging to Germanic tribes including the Goths and Vandals with the overall goal of expanding his empire westwards into the eastern portion of that of the Romans. Theodosius II – the Eastern Roman Emperor – agreed to make tribute payments on two separate occasions; first between 441 and 443 ad after a Roman Bishop had been caught stealing from a Hunnic tomb and again between 447 and 449 ad, bringing the Roman city of Constantinople – modern day Istanbul – to its knees, although stopping short of invading it. In the vicious attacks that first prompted Theodosius to negotiate terms with Attila, the Huns took many of the major Balkan cities in what are now Bulgaria, Greece and the former Yugoslavia.

  INVINCIBLE IN WAR

  One of the many legends about Attila’s power and reputation concerns his weapon of choice, a sword. A secondary account from the sixth-century Roman historian, Jordanes, states that Attila was presented a blade that had been unearthed on grazing land and believed that it came from a war god and that it was a sign that he was invincible in war and had been divinely chosen as ruler of the entire world. The belief it inspired in Attila was reflected on battlefields all over western Europe. An often-proffered explanation for the Huns’ success in conflicts is the use of stirrups – although this may seem a trivial detail, stirrups would have provided a vitally important part of the Huns’ attacks as they enabled warriors to ride at faster speeds and make more powerful attacks with weapons. It is worth noting that the Romans did not use them. Historians also often allude to the fact that the awesome reputation of these fearless mounted warriors preceded them and the subsequent fear of their enemies would have contributed to the overwhelming success of these marauders from the east.

  THE WESTERN EMPIRE

  Towards the end of his life, Attila’s ambition to further increase his territories saw him move further west. His motive for this may have been as a result of an unlikely request from an important Roman woman in 450 ad. Justa Grata Honoria was the sister of Valentinian III, the Emperor of the Western Roman Empire and, against her will, she had been betrothed to a Roman senator at her brother’s orders. Seeking help, she wrote to Attila, sending her engagement ring. The leader thought this to be a proposal of marriage and demanded half of the Western Empire as dowry. Eager to rebuff this unwanted advance but equally keen to avoid conflict with their dangerous enemy, the Romans tried to appease Attila with delegation after delegation visiting him with lavish gifts. Ultimately, Honoria was exiled by her brother and never married Attila and this event may have been enough to persuade him to attack the Western Empire. His vast army marched across the Rhine and into Gaul – which the Romans still considered as their territory – destroying and plundering towns and villages along the way. However, after they arrived in Orléans, a combined force of Romans and Visigoths turned them back. The Huns retreated to Châlons where a defining battle – not only to Attila’s legacy but also to that of Europe as a whole – ensued. Both sides suffered heavy losses, but the Huns were defeated by an allied force led by Attila’s childhood friend, Flavius Aëtius – by now a powerful general and one of the most influential men in the Western Roman Empire – and the Visigoth King, Theodoric.

  It seems that Attila was unperturbed by this loss as he then turned his attentions to Italy, destroying much of the northern part of the country and reducing Vicenza, Verona, Padua Brescia and Milan among other cities. A notable example of the destruction that his depleted army was still nevertheless capable of was the complete obliteration of Aquileia. Legend has it that Attila demanded that a castle be built on top of a hill north of the city so that he could watch it burn to the ground. Another legend tells how the survivors of attacks on this area of Italy fled to the Venetian Lagoon ultimately founding Venice upon its waters in order to defend better against future attacks. Rome was Attila’s next target, but the invasion of the Italian capital never took place; some records suggest that he was persuaded to withdraw by Pope Leo I, although others report that the true reason for his decision not to was due to a lack of supplies and widespread disease among his troops.

  THE HUNNIC EMPIRE COLLAPSES

  Attila returned to his homeland where he began making plans for a new assault on the Eastern Roman Empire. His death only a year after his withdrawal from Italy was at great odds with the image that his aggressive reign conjures up; he died in his sleep on the last of his many wedding nights. Some accounts report that Attila drank heavily to mark the occasion and succumbed to a nosebleed while he slept, choking to death on his own blood. After his death, the Hunnic Empire collapsed in a matter of years as his sons fought over who would succeed him, apparently unable to inspire the diverse armies at their disposal. As the dialect of the Huns died with their empire, the story of Attila the Hun was left in the hands of those he persecuted and, although accounts of his great leadership survived, it is the barbarism of his tenure with which his name has become synonymous.

  Caligula

  The third of the Roman Emperors, Caligula has become a byword for cruelty and perversion. Although he started out as a noble and generous emperor – who lavished upon Rome games and great gladiatorial spectacles, as well as establishing himself as a liberal and compassionate leader – mental illness robbed him of his sanity by the end of his reign and he was loathed by his subjects who regarded him as a megalomaniac, murderer and deviant.

  LITTLE BOOTS

  Caligula was born Gaius Caesar in 12 ad in the army camp in Germany where his father was commander. He was brought up with the regular troops who called him ‘Caligula’ which means ‘Little Boots’ – the military boots he wore as a child were known as caligae. This would be the name he would be known by throughout history, despite the fact the Emperor disliked the moniker as he found it belittling.

  THE CULLING OF HIS FAMILY

  Caligula suffered a profoundly sad childhood where he lost all but a few of his closest family members. He was part of the imperial hierarchy as he was the son of Tiberius’ nephew, the general Germanicus, and Agrippina the Elder, granddaughter of the first Emperor Augustus. As such, his parents were objects of envy to Augustus’ successor, the Emperor Tiberius, who, it is thought, had Germanicus killed. After this tragedy, Caligula lived with his mother until Tiberius’ paranoia got the better of him and, fearing that Agrippina would remarry and threaten his position as leader, banished her and Caligula’s brother, Nero, on charges of treason. A year later in 30 ad, Caligula’s other brother, Drusus, was also imprisoned on charges of treason and it was discovered that Nero had died of starvation. The teenage Caligula managed to survive the apparent culling of his family and, a year later, was remanded into the custody of Tiberius at his imperial household on Capri. Seeing what had befallen his
family, Caligula shrewdly hid all of his anger towards Tiberius and, to the amazement of many, his life was spared and he stayed on the island for six years until the Emperor’s death.

  The ruler observed that, ‘There was never a better slave, nor a worse master than Caligula.’

  The unpopular and cruel Tiberius died in March 37 ad, possibly helped by Caligula: it was said that Tiberius fell into a coma and the court officials began to congratulate Caligula, only to see Tiberius wake up, so Caligula’s chamberlain Macro smothered him with his bedclothes.

  Tiberius’ will named Caligula and his cousin, Tiberius Gemellus, joint heirs to his estate. In an indication of the evil that was to come, Caligula had Tiberius’ will nullified on the grounds of insanity and had Gemellus killed so it was he alone who succeeded as the head of the huge and powerful Roman Empire. Initially, the twenty-four-year-old Emperor was very popular. Being the son of the beloved Germanicus stood him in good stead; people also warmed to him for the simple fact that he wasn’t Tiberius. To gain the support of his subjects, he started out by recalling all those who Tiberius had exiled, burning police files and abolishing treason trials. He also gave bonuses to the army and provided entertainment for the public in the form of gladiator battles.

  THE REIGN OF TERROR BEGAN

  This early promise proved to be a false dawn, however, as his head was turned by the unlimited power that he wielded and he indulged in great brutality, underlined by latent paranoia. He is known to have inherited epilepsy and was seriously ill in October 37 ad: the Roman historian Suetonius suggested that this could have seriously unbalanced his mind. Modern medical experts suggest that it could have been encephalitis, which can cause symptoms similar to schizophrenia. To highlight his mental instability, Caligula soon exhausted the treasury and began a reign of terror. He indulged in reckless extravagance, putting on spectacular games, in which he sometimes appeared as a gladiator. He enjoyed prolonging punishments, an example of which came when a supervisor of games and beast-fights was flogged with chains for days on end and he was only put to death when Caligula announced that he was offended by the smell of gangrene in the man’s brain. On another occasion there were not enough condemned criminals to fight the lions and tigers in the arena, so Caligula ordered that some of the innocent spectators should be dragged into the arena to replace them.

  One of his most famous eccentricities was the building of a bridge made of boats for miles across the Bay of Naples, which he rode across on his favourite horse, Incitatus. Some sources say that his reason for this was to prove false a prediction made by Tiberius’ astrologer, Thrasyllus, that Caligula had no more chance of becoming Emperor than of crossing the bay of Baiae on horseback. Others say it was to show his solidarity with the sea god Neptune. Other quirks included housing Incitatus in a beautiful stall made from marble and ivory with its own staff of servants, presenting the animal with a jewelled necklace and threatening to make him a senator. He also built a temple to himself and forced people to worship him as a god on an equal footing with Jupiter. He asked the actor Apelles who was greater, Caligula or Jupiter, Apelles hesitated, so Caligula had him cut to pieces. His justification was significant: ‘Remember that I have the power to do anything to anyone.’

  THE DEATH OF DRUSILLA

  One of the more disturbing facets of Caligula’s personality was that of his sexual proclivities. There were strong rumours of an unhealthy relationship with one, if not all, of his three sisters, Drusilla being his favourite. When Drusilla suddenly died in 38 ad, Caligula was devastated, he was at her side when she died and wouldn’t let anyone take her body away. It is not known how she passed away; some say it was due to a fever which had taken the lives of many at the time; other, more sensational, reports suggest that she was carrying Caligula’s baby but that he could not wait for the birth, so he had her disembowelled, to pluck the unborn baby from her. Whatever the cause, it is said that Caligula never recovered from the loss. Drusilla was buried with the title of Augusta – a title of great prestige, usually bestowed in life upon the wives or relatives of Roman Emperors. Caligula also had her deified and worshipped as the representation of the goddess Venus and named his only recorded daughter, Julia Drusilla, in her honour. Along with the incestuous affairs he is supposed to have had, it is also suggested that Caligula had several homosexual relationships as well as many extra-marital affairs with numerous women, including the wife of his chamberlain, Marco, before the demise of Tiberius. He also opened a brothel in his palace, where Roman matrons, their daughters and freeborn youths could be hired for money.

  THE DEMISE OF CALIGULA

  To recover his depleted revenues, Caligula intro-duced a great deal of taxation and encouraged the rich to bequeath their property to him, after which they soon died. One such unfortunate was killed and when Caligula discovered that he had no money, he quipped: ‘Oh dear! He died in vain.’ He also reneged on his promise to abolish treason trials which returned in 39 ad. Caligula had heard about several conspiracies against him from within the senate and duly had those responsible brutally executed. Though the Roman Empire was vast, Caligula thought about extending it to take in Britain. He assembled a large army in Boulogne but then apparently lost interest in the project. Instead, he got his soldiers to pick up sea shells from the shore, to show his victory over Neptune. To lessen their humiliation, he awarded all legionaries an extra four gold pieces. Caligula was not an impressive sight. He was tall and spindly and dressed in effeminate gaudy silks, with jewellery and gold. His premature baldness made him insanely jealous of anyone with a good head of hair and, on a bad day, he could order them to be shaved. He even enacted a law which made it a capital crime for anyone to look down from a high place as he passed by.

  Upon leaving the theatre on 24 January 41 ad, Caligula, along with his fourth wife, was assassinated. The historian Tacitus states that they were both stabbed to death by a number of assassins including a colonel, whom Caligula had made a practice of insulting. Others among the conspirators included a man whose wife the Emperor had debauched and another whose high-pitched voice he had mocked relentlessly. He was succeeded as ruler by his bookish and until then undistinguished uncle, Claudius. After Caligula’s assassination, the Senate decreed that his portraits should be dragged through the streets of Rome and thrown into the Tiber, the fate accorded to executed criminals.

  Idi Amin Dada

  Even the briefest acquaintance with the life and times of Amin Dada must surely provoke in the reader, alongside the inevitable feelings of utter revulsion and horror, jarring thoughts of absurdity and surrealism. How could anyone possibly reconcile the image of an amiable buffoon or a charming clown with the nightmare of a Hitler-admiring, cold-blooded slaughterer?

  BUTCHER OF UGANDA

  Coincidentally and highly ironically, the name ‘Dada’ – meaning a hobbyhorse or child’s toy – was also chosen from the dictionary in 1916 to describe the Dadaists’ anti-war art movement, a peaceful collaboration between the artists of several warring nations and including Germany, France and Switzerland. Using confrontational and often amusingly arresting techniques – like Marcel Duchamp’s Mona Lisa sporting a moustache – artists such as Paul Klee, Sophie Täuber and Pablo Picasso challenged established ideas and beliefs, giving rise to, among others, the Surrealist movement. How ironic, then, that the ‘Butcher of Uganda’, bearing that same name, Dada, should have achieved notoriety and fortune by pursuing the ends of precisely the opposite camp: war in all its most hideous forms – terror, torture, mutilation, executions and massacres, revoltingly free of remorse and justified in the name of nationalism and personal destiny.

  Idi Amin Dada was reportedly born in 1925 near Koboko, in the West Nile Province of today’s Republic of Uganda. His parents separated soon after his birth, so he was brought up by his mother, who through subsequent relationships gave birth to a further five children – a figure that pales into insignificance compared to the 40-plus Amin would go on to father with his – at lea
st – six wives and more than 30 mistresses. Significantly, he was a member of the Kakwa ethnic group, a small Islamic tribe that was settled in the region – his father had converted from Roman Catholicism to Islam in 1910, a fact that would prove pivotal in Amin’s future political decisions. His education was basic and short-lived, paving the way, no doubt, for all the anecdotes about his bone-headed simplicity; gifted boxer, swimmer and rugby player though he was, the 6ft 4in man-mountain, according to at least one British army officer, needed to have things explained to him ‘in words of one syllable’. Chillingly, however, the same officer also described him as a ‘splendid type’.

  AN APPETITE FOR BRUTALITY

  As soon as he joined the KAR (King’s African Rifles), Britain’s colonial African force, in 1946, the champion pugilist was on home turf, ready to punch above and below his weight, whenever duty called. His appetite for up-close-and-personal brutality was frequently whetted, not least when he was called upon to assist in the suppression of the Mau Mau freedom fighters of Kenya, themselves no strangers to ritualistic brutality and slaughter. He rose rapidly through the ranks, reaching sergeant-major before finally being made an effendi – warrant officer – the highest rank possible for a black African serving in the British army.